TechnoGrannyShow, Can You Really Make Ethanol at Home for $1.00 Per Gallon?

Do-It-Yourself Ethanol Title: Techno Granny, Can You Really Make Ethanol at Home for $1.00 Per Gallon? 05/27/2013 Episode Notes: Techno Granny has been following the release of EFuel100 MicroFueler(TM) from a Business Wire since 2008. It looks like it is finally here. So if you have a vehicle that can run on Ethanol, you might want to listen in. We are just going to talk about what the company has put out there so far in information and hope we can get one of the principals on at a later date. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the fuel maker in 2012 and it is apparently shipping. If you are in Callifornia this is a reality but what about the rest of the country? Perhaps it's a good investment opp for someone who would like to be a distributor? The company gives seminars on the opportunity. At least we can investigate our options. Listen in for a few for a teaser on making your own fuel at home. For those do it yourselfers who make their own wine or home brew, it just might not be a stretch to think about making your own fuel. Listen to Show Here

The world's first home ethanol system, which allows consumers to create their own ethanol and pump it directly into their cars, was unveiled by the E-Fuel Corporation in 2008. The EFuel100 MicroFueler(TM) was the first product that allowed consumers of all sizes to reduce their dependency on oil, greatly diminish their carbon footprint and produce fuel for under $1.00 per gallon. The MicroFueler is a leading edge product that allows consumers to create ethanol, simply and safely, with the readily available ingredients of sugar, yeast and water, and a standard household 110-220 AC power supply. Cars running on sugar-based ethanol produce 85% fewer carbon emissions than gasoline. Businesses, such as breweries, bars and restaurants can even use discarded alcohol beverages to create ethanol, for as little as $0.10 per gallon. The portable MicroFueler works on a  user-friendly LCD touch screen interface and hose pumping system found at the corner gas station—your own gas pump at home.   The E-Fuel Corporation was founded in March 2007 by Tom Quinn and ethanol scientist Floyd Butterfield to create efficient micro ethanol refinery products for people who want to break their dependency on oil. As chairman of E-Fuel, a privately held company, Quinn at that time had solely funded the company.   E-Fuel creates ethanol micro refinery products that conform to U.S. safety and durability standards and include modern safety features. E-Fuel products are available for purchase online and through a network of worldwide resellers. For more information, visit http://www.microfueler.com/

That was the news in 2008, Fast forward to Today

2012:  The final production model of the revolutionary MicroFueler was unveiled to the world by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sacramento, CA. (See the official press release and the Governor's comments.) The enhanced MicroFueler builds upon the original MicroFueler announced in New York in March of 2008. Enhancements include substantial reductions in size (60%) and weight (80%), and 24x7 user accessible monitoring via the Internet. The MicroFueler now "phones home" whenever it needs attention for service by the dealer or ready-to-report status when desired by the owner.

More at:  http://www.microfueler.com/

Depending upon your particular circumstances, E-Fuel has different scenarios to offer with regard to purchase and support of the MicroFueler. You can purchase the self sufficient model for $40,000.00 and a $99.00 per year maintainance plan or you can purchase the distributor serviced model for just under $10,000.00

• (1)  Self-sufficient user: Such a customer is one who has their own source for organic fuel (waste feedstock) or does not require an organic fuel supply service by one of our distributors. Such a customer is typically self supporting (i.e. a brewery, farmer, educational institution, etc.) and requires minimal support from E-Fuel. In such cases, E-Fuel offers our "Ethanol Producer Service Kit" for a one time cost of $40,000 which includes a MicroFueler (MFC200-001), Fermentation Tank (OFT200-001) and 5 days of expert on-site training (travel and expenses additional). The training is tailored to your specific feedstock processing needs and production targets. Click here if this is your situation.

Claim is that you can make this fuel for $1.00 per gallon.

Assuming you use a tank of gas a week which is about 15 gallons and you now pay $3.60 per gallon. 

You could save $2020.00 a year so it would only take you twenty years to liquidate the cost of the machine.  That’s for a self sustaining machine. So you would probably need multiple vehicles as in a fleet or a farm to make this sustainable.

Is ethanol really more eco-friendly than gas?

Ethanol Controversy

In its current status as a low-percentage fuel additive, the benefits of ethanol are obvious. Since ethanol contains a lot of oxygen in its chemical structure, it burns pretty cleanly. Added in small amounts (typically one part ethanol, nine parts gasoline) to the gasoline that fuels our cars, it reduces greenhouse emissions like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Argonne National Laboratory reports an approximate 10-ton (9.07-metric ton) decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from the use of ethanol fuel in 2007 alone [source: Biofuels Digest]. A 2006 study in Wisconsin showed 16 percent fewer high-ozone days since the 1994 introduction of 10-90 fuel [source: Ethanol].
From blog by Julia Layton   http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/ethanol-facts1.htm

Also from the same blog post: 
According to Cornell University professor of agriculture David Pimentel, producing ethanol actually creates a net energy loss. According to his calculations, producing corn and processing it into 1 gallon (3.7 liters) of ethanol requires 131,000 BTUs of energy; but 1 gallon of ethanol contains only 77,000 BTUs [source: Health and Energy]. And since farmers are using fossil-fuel-powered equipment to plant, maintain and harvest the corn and are using fossil-fuel-powered machinery to process that corn into ethanol and then, in almost all cases, to ship the product to collection points via fuel-powered transport, the ethanol industry is actually burning large amounts of gasoline to produce this alternative fuel. That ethanol could end up containing less energy than the gasoline consumed to produce it.  Read more here  http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/ethanol-facts1.htm

Questions and assumptions raised by TechnoGranny and participants in chat room and call in by Capricious, Author of Continuous Learning Forum.

1.       You could end up using more oil just in preparation, growing and processing of plants or sugar that lend themselves to creating ethanol.

2.      The only way this would work is if the Micro Fueler basically works on garbage, grass clippings, rotted fruit, manure.

3.      Finally, as with the Model T when it first drove the roads of the U.S.,  Where do you find filling stations of your own.  Will you need a map for stations that serve ethanol, how prevalent is it.  At time of this writing in Kentucky, caller mentioned that ethanol was not available in Kentucky.

4.      However we did find online confirmation that ethanol sells for around $2.00 in Nebraska but then gas is a lot cheaper there also.

(c)  Joanne Quinn-Smith 2013

 

     

     This blog post can be reproduced in its entirety with the following information:

     © Joanne Quinn-Smith, Techno Granny Show™ 2013,

     Dreamweaver Marketing Associates, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15230, 412-628-5048

     Listen at:  http://tinyurl.com/TechnoGrannyShow

   Or on its unique radio channel at:

    http://tinyurl.com/pospittlivemag

    Additional blog posts at:  http://technogrannyshow.com

      Joanne Quinn-Smith is the Creative Energy Officer of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and an expert on Web 2.0 Branding.

      2009 SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year

TechnoGranny, Comparison of SalesForce and Zoho for CRM, Customer Realtionship Management

There was confusion between me and my guest for this show, so most of this information is either from Wikipedia or the respective websites for Sales Force and Zoho. I look forward to having Ed Denzler on the Techno Granny Show in the near future.
You can listen to this show live if you prefer audio at: http://tinyurl.com/TechnoGrannyShow

Customer relationship management (CRM) is basically the function of building a long standing relationship with a customer. This maximizes profits, since it is cheaper to retain a current customer than it is to find a new one. It also consists of the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRM software is used to support these processes; information about customers and customer interactions can be entered, stored and accessed by employees in different company departments. Typical CRM goals are to improve services provided to customers, and to use customer contact information for targeted marketing.

Sales force management systems are information systems used in marketing and management that help automate some sales and sales force management functions. They are frequently combined with a Marketing Information System, in which case they are often called Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Sales Force Automation Systems (SFA), typically a part of a company’s customer relationship management system, is a system that automatically records all the stages in a sales process. SFA includes a contact management system which tracks all contact that has been made with a given customer, the purpose of the contact, and any follow up that might be required. This ensures that sales efforts are not duplicated, reducing the risk of irritating customers. SFA also includes a sales lead tracking system, which lists potential customers through paid phone lists, or customers of related products. Other elements of an SFA system can include sales forecasting, order management and product knowledge

This is what sales force.com says about their CRM product:
Successful CRM involves many different areas of your company, starting with sales, of course. But also various other customer-facing areas, like marketing and customer service. Salesforce.com offers a technology solution for all those areas… and more. With Salesforce CRM software as a service and our Force.com cloud computing platform, you can mind your customers and your budget at the same time (very important in today’s economy). Get up and running in 30 days with the world's most proven and loved CRM solution.

The Zoho Office Suite is a Web- based online office suite containing word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, CRM, project management, invoicing and other applications developed by ZOHO Corporation(formally AdventNet Inc.), an Indian-based company[1][2][3]. It was launched in 2005 with a web-based word processor. Additional products, such as spreadsheets and presentations were incorporated later into Zoho. [4]
Zoho applications are free to use at the entry-level and require a fee for more extensive or professional use.
Sales & Marketing
Zoho CRM aligns your Sales and Marketing by integrating sales with campaigns, leads, sales pipeline, forecasts, etc
Award-winning, complete CRM solution. Zoho CRM offers all the modules and tools that you might need to run your sales & marketing.
Value for your money. We not only provide a great CRM solution, but also have a great price too. How about... 3 users entirely free? No strings attached, not a trial, just free!